


Familiars and Pets

by kireiflora



Category: Yuri!!! on Ice (Anime)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Canon Compliant, Getting Together, M/M, Mutual Pining, Soulmate AU, Soulmates, yes even with episode 10
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-11-29
Updated: 2017-11-29
Packaged: 2018-09-02 22:58:44
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 9
Words: 16,779
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8686675
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kireiflora/pseuds/kireiflora
Summary: Yuuri Katsuki is your average guy, trying to find his soulmate and be recognized by his idol while he tries to win medals from skating.Victor Nikiforov is less average, a famous skater, also trying to find his soulmate, but it's harder than it has any right to be.orSoulmate AU with familiars and dreams, staring these two idiots who won't just come out and ask the right questions.Formally, Soulmates Animals and Pets





	1. The younger years: Yuuri

**Author's Note:**

> This is my own soulmate au I made up for one of my rare pairs sometime ago, and I just needed to write soulmate au for these two so I did :)
> 
> And then it ended up really long. OOPS.

Growing up, Yuuri was always aware of the...well he wasn’t sure what it was, either some big cat or dog like creature, since he wasn’t sure he just thought of it as a beast. It was always there in his dreams, out of focus but there, every dream he could recall.

Of course, it wasn’t long before it was explained to him, it was the animal companion, the familiar, his soulmate would have. Like his parents and their small birds, he’d find his own some day, and then when he finally saw his soulmate’s he’d be able to make it out in his dream.

He’d be lying if he said he hadn’t imagined Victor as the one with the beast at his side, he spent hours daydreaming about it. He had no idea what his own animal would be, but he was sure it’d be smaller than Victors, sometimes he picked one, a bird like his parents, a dog maybe, a cat possibly? It was impossible to know for sure though, they weren’t dependent on personality or anything like that.

He knew it was highly probable Victor had met, and missed, his soulmate. Being surrounded by people and their familiars, he wouldn’t be surprised if he’d caught a glimpse but never knew whose it was.

There was a popular theory that his dog, Makkachin, was his familiar, and it was hard to disprove it as he said he’d found him out on the streets and took him in. Of course there were the counter theories that he wanted people to think that. The part of him that refused to give up on being Victors soulmate clung to those ideas, sure Victor loved the dog, but it was also convenient. But then where would his real one be? They didn’t normally move far away, keeping an eye out, and nobody had seen hide or hair of another.

He was staring to get to that age where it was awkward to be known as ‘the kid without an animal’ himself, and every passing day just made him more anxious about it. What if he never found his? What if he didn’t have a soulmate out there? The blurry figure could be his own mind making it up. He was 12 and hadn’t found it yet.

He kicked at a loose rock on his way back from a practice session at the ice castle, he was spending more time there trying to use up his restless energy but it was never enough. It was only a matter of time before the teasing became bullying, he could feel it, and that was just because of not having his animal yet.

Something ran across his path, small like a cat, and he fell over directly onto his face before he could react.

He laid there stunned for a moment, then just slumped further onto the sidewalk. Of course some small animal would trip him. Of course. Why not?

There was a small weight at his back, and then a bit more, and then something warm just...sitting there. He sighed, and now the animal thought he was dead or something. He laid there until his ribs started to ache and slowly started to sit up, giving the animal plenty of time to hop off without getting hurt. He pushed himself to his feet, looking around.

There was a small noise and then he found himself with an armful of rabbit.

He blinked in confusion at it, and it twitched it’s nose at him.

“Oh.” he said, finally realizing he’d finally ran across his own animal. A bunny. A pretty bunny, sure, but still just a bunny.

It was cute though, and he couldn’t help himself from lifting it up to his face and nuzzling its fur with a giggle.

\-----

“I thought they were supposed to look out for us, not...this.” Yuuri complained from the floor, where his rabbit had once again tripped him. It’d been years now but the rabbit continued to trip him at least once a week.

Phichit laughed, his hawk flying off his shoulder around the room. “I think it’s just trying to keep your life exciting.”

He sighed, accepting Phichit’s offered hand up. “It’s not exciting at this point to be tripped so much.”

“Hmmm maybe it wants to sit with you more? It always hops up on your back, or tries to.”

Yuuri startled slightly, looking down at the rabbit at his feet. “You think so?”

Phichit nodded, “Some of them are more needy than others. Is it not common in Japan?”

“Not where I’m from at least…” he bent down and picked it up, petting it. He’d never heard of them wanting affection, maybe it was common but everyone just did it naturally so it didn’t become an issue.

Or his rabbit could just be a little, adorable, jerk that loved to trip him.

Phichit reached out and pet it for a moment as well, “It’s so soft.”

Yuuri nodded with a small smile. “It’s always been comforting, just petting it.”

“You have a dog too right?”

“Y-yeah, Vicchan.” he blushed, hoping he wouldn’t connect the dots.

“A poodle like _Victor_ right?” he grinned, “I bet it’s full name is Vict-”

“SHHHH!” he put a hand up to his mouth. “Don’t-don’t say that. Someone might hear you.”

Pichit laughed, “Yuuri, everyone knows you love him already.”

“I-I do not!” he objected, shaking his head.

“You do! You copy his routines instead of practicing your own and you have so many posters, just the ones you bought here! I bet you have so many at home!” Phichit laughed.

Yuuri turned redder, “I don’t! I….have...a small crush okay. Just a small one!” he insisted.

Phichit laughed even harder, “If you say so Yuuri,” he replied as his hawk came back and landed on his head.

Yuuri pouted at him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The next chapter will be up soon since this is so short :)


	2. The younger years: Victor

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> All things considered, Yuuri was just an average kid with an idol that he, of course, dreamed of being the soulmate of.
> 
> Victor on the other hand...things couldn't just go smoothly.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh my gosh I'm so blown away by the reception of this fic I haven't stopped screaming the last 24 hours I can't believe this none of my fics have ever gotten so popular so fast. I hope you enjoy this chapter! Sorry it's pretty short!

Victor was quite fond of the small animal that ran through his dreams, he got the sense it was super soft, and couldn’t wait to be able to give it love and affection one day when he found his soulmate (whom he would, of course, also smother in love and affection).

It was what had led to him begging for and eventually getting a poodle, unable to wait any longer for something soft to love.

It had come with terms though, he was to pass it off as his familiar, but not overtly. He didn’t get _why_ , exactly, but he was happy to do whatever to be able to have Makkachin.

He figured it wouldn’t matter by the time he actually found his, the truth would be out and he'd find his soulmate and he'd love them and their cute little animal.

The adults got lucky.

He was 15 when he finally stumbled across his animal, heading to the beach with Makkachin near his birthday. He’d gotten so good at pretending he was his animal, he didn’t even think about how he _hadn’t_ met his yet, which was very unusual for a 15 year old.

Actually, when he first saw it, he’d thrown himself over Makkachin to defend him.

What was a wolf doing here?!

After several minutes passed without anything happening except Makkachin getting impatient and whiny, he looked up and saw the wolf, still standing there, staring at him.

“Oh.” he said softly, holding his hand out to it, still keeping himself between it and his beloved pet.

The wolf walked forward, rubbing against his hand and laying down at his side.

“Well…” he said, still stunned, and a bit worried for Makkachin's sake.

When he got home, his excited declaration was met by...relief. He didn’t understand until they called the man that was to be his coach, Yakov.

He had a wolf at his side.

All along, they’d all been hoping he’d have a wolf. They were hoping Yakov and his own could swap going out with them, and pretending his was still Makkachin.

He lay in his room that night, eyes wet but not crying, hugging both Makkachin and his wolf to him. How would he ever meet his soulmate like this? How? He’d dreamed of it for so long, a stranger with an adorable small animal, but they wouldn’t be seeing his animal. They’d see Yakov’s or his _pet_ and they wouldn’t know! He might see _them_ but he wouldn’t know who matched the animal, with how many people were at competitions!

He curled closer to both of them.

How long were they planning about his life and making decisions and putting off his happiness? Either because of or to increase his popularity? He didn't need any of this stupid soulmate crap they were pulling to be popular, his skating alone made him popular. But of course they'd just claim he was lying if he tried to come forward with the truth, or something. Plus then there _would_ be countless people insisting they'd dreamed of his wolf, as it was it didn't happen very often since the whole world wasn't sure if Makkachin _was_ his animal or not, anyone claiming to dream of _Makkachin_ would be known as a liar and wouldn't be able to try again when the truth came out.

What could he do? How could he get around the adults careful planning? He was going to find his soulmate one way or another.

He fell asleep on top of both of them, tears finally falling as he closed his eyes.

It took him weeks, but he came up with an idea, he would have to be careful, he couldn’t be too obvious about it.

He was going to find his soulmate, they couldn’t stop him. He had a plan.

They wouldn’t know how he played them until it was too late.

He hid his smile in his wolves fur, “We’ll find them.” he said softly.

It’s tail wagged briefly before it went back to napping.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next chapter: They actually meet, but things don't go according to any plan.
> 
> I mean, it's chapter 3 of 9 after all :)
> 
> If you look you might notice a little cute thing I added about the two chapters.


	3. The less than wonderful first meeting

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This moment has been years in the making, Victor is right there in front of him.
> 
> Victor really should keep more up to date.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I meant to post this yesterday but I got caught up in Nano and barely got my word count done in time :) (3 minutes to spare on my validation YIKES) and then I just wanted to sleep. I hope you enjoy!

Yuuri had, for as long as he had his bunny, taken to taking it in a backpack to competitions with him, it wouldn’t be left behind but he didn’t want to be worrying about it getting stepped on. It was hard to kill them, but not impossible, and they almost always reappeared within a couple years, but it was still heartbreaking and people said it felt like they were missing part of themselves, and he didn’t want to test it.

His bunny was pushing against his back as he sat in the toilet, sobbing, clearly wanting to try and comfort him, he refused to give into it, the last thing he wanted was to lose-lose his bunny on top of Vicch-

He tore his thoughts away, it hurt too much to think about, he already felt like dying. And he failed everyone in Japan with his abysmal performance, and the whole town had shown up to watch him live.

He heard a low growl before suddenly someone kicked the stall with great force, he jumped up, opening the door, in mild shock and confusion.

There was a blond kid in front of him, the russian punk, and at his side was a lion. He was even happier he hadn’t taken his bunny out, even though animals almost never fought with each other.

He only half processed what he was yelling at him.

He was ready to just leave when he caught sight of a woman holding a poodle outside.

His breath left him, and the tears welled up in his eyes, but he refused to let them fall. It was one thing to cry in the bathroom, but another here, in public.

“...Yuri...”

He spun in place, seeing Victor walk by-talking to the Russian Yuri, of course. For half a second he’d thought…

He stared at him, glancing around slightly for his animal, but there were none nearby, not Makkachin and not an unknown other, only Yuri’s lion. He returned to looking at him, wondering what was the truth, was it Makkachin, or another animal? Another man joined the conversation as he stared. Did he know his soulmate? Was he already ou-

“Commemorative photo?” Victor was looking at him, directly at him, smiling that smile he had plastered across his walls, hand out slightly. After a moment of silence he added, “Sure.”

Then what he said sunk in and he felt his heart shatter even more fully, and he turned stiffly and left, ignoring the calls of his name and confusion his parting left.

Of course he wanted a photo with Victor but...

Victor didn’t even know he was a competitor.

Vicchan had died, and he hadn’t been there, and Victor didn’t even know he _existed_. What he’d been striving for all this time, the reason he hadn’t been there when Vicchan died, it was...all for nothing. The small kernel of hope that at least, at least Victor knew he existed now, it was gone. Vicchan died alone. All for nothing.

He found another secluded space to cry in, pulling out his rabbit finally and burying his face in its fur.

That night Celestino, after at least half an hour, convinces him to just go to the banquet. He doesn’t want to but he sighs and he digs out the suit he’d brought for it, puts it on, and dejectedly follows his coach down, bunny forgotten, asleep, in the hotel room. All he _wants_ to do is go back to his room and sulk but Celestino insists he can do that later, but at least see out the end of the GPF.

He’s even convinced to take a selfie of the room at large to send to Phichit. ‘Celestino made me go.’ He ignores his phone the rest of the night, and never notices that Victor had been looking at him.

He sips on the champagne, not able to bring himself to go up to talk to any of the skaters or coaches and other random strangers.

And that’s that.

\-----

Victor blinked in confusion as the man walked away from him. It wasn’t often that people at skating events just walked away from him. Plus that look on his face, like he’d just killed his dog in front of him...

Yuri rolled his eyes slightly, “Idiot.”

Victor blinked, not realizing Yuri had even been paying attention to what he was doing while Yakov chewed him out. “What?”

“He might’ve done horrible but he was still a competitor.” Yuri huffed, irritated. That was why he needed to not bother to try again next year, there was no need for two Yuri, especially when one was such a failure. But he _was_ a competitor so he deserved the minimum of respect.

“Wha-” he turned back to where he’d walked out, gut churning slightly. No wonder he’d looked at him like that before leaving. He took a step after him but Yakov grabbed the back of his jacket.

“Oh no you don’t.” he glared, he wasn’t happy at this news either, his star skater snubbing another competitor, it could make headlines, but he couldn’t let Victor go off after the man when it was _his_ wolf sitting at Yakov’s side. The wolf would feel compelled to follow him and it would be weird if _he_ followed him as well and all these years would be wasted.

“Yako-” he objected, not willing to just let such a horrible blunder go.

“I said no.” he glared him into submission before letting go. “Message him later, it’ll be easy to find him.”

Victor looked back at the doorway he’d gone through, feeling like it was much more important to do this _now_ . He almost regretted that that was _his_ wolf here today.

Almost.

He gets dressed up for the banquet, not really looking forward to it but not dreading it like Yuri is. “At least _you_ can drink.” the teenager points out.

He’d thought everyone was there when the doors open again, and in comes Celestino and...the skater he’d snubbed. He looks dejected and like he wants to be anywhere but here. He can’t help but note there’s no sign of his familiar, but Celestino’s fox happily runs around the pair of them.

His wolf perks up at the sight but remains close to Yakov as they mingle, but Victor can’t help how his gaze wanders over to the skater. He has this urge to get closer, to apologize of course. So he can’t help but notice how he’s not mingling, just downing champagne. So he’s only slightly surprised when he stumbles out into the crowd, very drunk.

What he really doesn’t expect is when he comes over to him and Yuri, and challenges him to a dance off.

This man is drunk and the first priority in his drunk brain is to have a dance off with this kid, Victor barely holds back a grin.

Yuri’s lion growls briefly at him before he moves to the wall as Yuri rises to the challenge as the skater drunkenly says something that sounds like “Want a drink? Oh you can’t? Poor thing!” and downs a lot more champagne.

Chris appears at his side in Yuri’s absence (both of them taking pictures of course), his peacock trotting along by him. “I have a pole.” he announces.

Victor blinks up from his phone, “A...pole?”

“I’m going to challenge him to a pole dance.” he grins in response.

“..where-I don’t want to know actually.” Victor replies as he moves closer for better pictures.

His jaw is on the floor when the mystery skater (“His name’s Yuri too.” Yuri huffs at his side.) is more than able to keep up with Chris, and even joins him in the wholehearted stripping. _Where is his familiar I need that man as my soulmate._ Something else occurs to him that he can do and he grins.

Someone manages to get the two to get dressed again, and the other Yuri comes over to him, only half dressed, hugs him tightly, and slurs out something (he makes out ‘hot springs’ and ‘dance off’) in drunken japanese, before his brain apparently switches back to english to say “Be my coach Victor!” as he flings his arms around his neck, eyes shining.

Victor can’t help the blush that takes over his face.

Yuri gets fully dressed and invites him into a dance he knows very well, he can tell from his expression he’s startled by the fact this is happening, before he really gets into it.

Victor hasn’t had this much fun in _years_.

He convinces Yuri to take a break and go over by the doors where there’s cool air and Yuri promptly flops down onto the floor in apparent exhaustion. He’s slurring something in japanese again. “Did I win the dance off?”

Victor blinks, it hadn’t really been a dance _off_ but since he hasn’t had that much fun in ages, “Yeah, yeah you did.” he smiles.

Yuri bursts into drunken, delighted laughter.

Victor has never been more delighted as when Yakov walks up in this moment, _his_ wolf at his side.

Yuri gasps from the ground, and immediately hugs it, saying something in japanese that he only gets ‘dog!’ from.

Victor happily snaps a few pictures.

Yakov sighs deeply.

The night winds down after that, but Victor can only hope Yuri will contact him soon about how he dreamed of his wolf.

Maybe he’ll go anyway, it’s not like he _has_ to be with his soulmate, he’s 27 and that man just took him on a wild night that he’ll never forget, there’s nothing wrong with trying.

\-----

That night, they both wondered if that animal wasn’t just a bit clearer than it had been in the past.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I also posted a 5+1 things in honor of Yuuri's birthday, I think it's just about the fluffiest thing I've ever written. 
> 
> Anyway chapter 4 will come before too much longer, and will be their second meeting. :) And we'll actually move onto the actual plot and less prologue.
> 
> And @ anyone calling shenanigans, Yuuri never looked low enough to see the wolf after Yakov joined the conversation with it, much like Victor saw the bag with the rabbit but not the rabbit itself. :)
> 
> Edit: Well now this is edited thanks to episode 10, and well, I have reasons to be explained in coming chapters for why Yuuri doesn't dream of the wolf.


	4. The still less than wonderful second meeting

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Despite youtube's attempts to stop him, Victor is going to Japan.
> 
> But he's still Victor Nikiforov, and things really can't just go smoothly.
> 
> Yuuri is still in denial this is all happening.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is the last of the short chapters I promise, they start to get really long after this one.
> 
> Thank you so much for all the support I'm still blown away by it.

Victor never messages Yuri, he gets so wrapped up in everything else he completely forgets about the event, about coaching him. Yuri never messages him either, he wonders what that means.

Until a video goes viral, and someone sends it to him...and then sends it again...and a few more times, until finally they find one that isn’t blocked in his country. The name strikes a chord, which is why he insists on finding a working link, and he watches it. 

It’s him, the skater he snubbed, Yuuri Katsuki, who made the banquet the most fun in ages. Skating his program. 

It takes his breath away, he can’t stop watching it. Yuuri is skating his program, with emotion and passion and he knows Yuuri is thinking of quitting, but he can’t have that. Is he quitting because Victor didn’t show up after he won the dance off? Because Victor isn’t his coach? That cannot be allowed.

He decides its also long past time to take control of his own life. He takes Makkachin, and sneaks his wolf, manages to convince someone to help him get both to Japan, the wolf has to wait a bit, and it protests loudly but eventually accepts it’s fate, waiting to catch up to him. He apologises, but he doesn’t want to make a scene with a wolf at his side, not just yet.

The wolf seems to have some kind of silent conversation with Makkachin, from the movements the two of them make, before it stares at him for a long time before laying down.

Makkachin climbs into his lap.

He feels like he missed out on something big as he pets him.

\-----

Yuuri leaves his bunny sleeping in his room as he goes to shovel snow. Only to be knocked to his back by a dog that makes his heart ache for Vicchan.

Then it sinks in, and he bolts through every room of the hot springs, there’s no way Victor is here, no way.

Yuuri bursts into the hot springs, Makkachin tight at his heels, and stares as Victor gives his proclamation.

His coach? Why? His brain has stopped functioning and he can’t bring himself to say anything so he numbly follows him back inside and watches him eat and then fall asleep, cuddled up to Makkachin.

He feels like its a dream, he only half hears anything Mari tells him, stuck on the fact Victor is here at all.

After he wakes up from his nap, and he sits up and Yuuri doesn’t know how he doesn’t have a nosebleed and there’s no way Victor isn’t doing this on purpose, he can’t help the question that spills from his lips in his flustered embarrassment at staring at him. “So is Makkachin your familiar?” he realizes how rude that was instantly and tries to take it back. “Wa-I know-that was-I’m sor-”

“Yeah he is.” Victor replies, before digging into his second round of food.

He’s glad Victor likes his favorite food.

And he’s silently screaming at himself for being so rude to ask a question like that, even if it has been on his mind since he was eleven.

\-----

Yuuri sleeps that night, and the beast doesn’t appear as Makkachin.

He wakes up in the middle of the night, crying.

He knew it was a long shot, almost impossible for _him_ to be victors soulmate, out of everyone more deserving. Out of people that don’t place sixth by 100 points, out of people _worth_ Victor. But it still hurts. He’s stupidly held onto the slim chance for so long...and now it’s come tumbling down.

\-----

Victor sleeps that night, and the animal blurs more than it had been.

He wakes up, silent tears leaking from his eyes, feeling like he just lost something precious.

He wonders if that ‘big thing’ he missed was the metaphorical loss of his animal, or the passing of the torch to Makkachin. He wonders if he just fucked up his chance to meet his soulmate.

He wonders why he couldn’t just be content with his life.

He knows, knows Yuuri didn’t dream of his wolf, why would he ask if Makkachin was his familiar if he had? 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Up next: Yurio, the day at the beach, and Victor finds out about Vicchan
> 
> Starting next chapter there's actually dialogue between these two


	5. Familiars are weird and work in mysterious ways

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Yuuri goes to great lengths to let himself off gently about not being Victor's soulmate.
> 
> Victor meanwhile, worries his nickname is causing Yuuri pain.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Shoutouts to inkpelt for reminding me the word 'familiar' exists. This fic just got a whole lot less clunky. 
> 
> I'M SHOOK over today's episode and luckily with some attentive edits I can keep this fic canon compliant (besides the soulmate aspect of course) :) 
> 
> You're all gonna start screaming at me by the end of the first paragraph though.

Yuuri talks to his familiar, he always has, it helps calm him, but he doesn’t usually give it commands. He commands it to stay away from him if he’s around Victor. The bunny looks pained, like it doesn’t understand why he would ban it from his presence.

He just...wants to hold onto the hope a little longer. He wants to slowly get rid of it, and if Victor never sees his rabbit? Then there’s still a chance. He needs the time. He knows he’s held tight onto the hope for far too long as it was, but he can slowly pull the dream away from himself like this.

His rabbit goes along with it, but refuses to budge from his side when he’s alone, jumping up into his arms. He cuddles it, feeling bad. It’s still hard for society to understand exactly how they work but he can tell he’s hurt it.

The first day of coaching is very awkward in terms of mood, things changed overnight, in a bad way. Both of them too wrapped up in their own sorrows of the night to really notice.

By the next day they both put it out of their minds, and get to work.

\-----

Victor is surprised when Yuri appears a week later, and the first thing he does is send word not to send his wolf. He wants to be fully in control of this secret getting out, and this is not full control, this is a 15 year old boy.

And his lion, which is more than displeased to be around the hot springs. It growls at many of the other animals in Hatesu, mostly just projecting Yuri’s attitude out into the world as they often do. It won’t get in an actual fight unless there’s violence about to go down.

You can tell who that boy likes by how his lion reacts around them, around Yuko and her Penguin it’s tame, not overly friendly but tame. It’s slightly less so around Takeshi and his Deer (“It’s just a young stag!” “You’ve had it ten years.” “It’s a species that doesn’t grow antlers.” “That’s fine honey, do you think the triplets will get theirs at the same time?” He’s silent for hours in mute horror).  Around Mari and her Crocodile, it tolerates them, the occasional time it runs into Minako and her Ostrich, it is cautious (Victor has it on good record that Yurio is nearly terrified of them).

It pretty much ignores Makkachin, it of course knows he’s just a pet, and not worthy of it’s attention.

It’s oddly nice to the birds, letting them rest on it. Victor chalks it up to a ‘sorry I showed up out of nowhere and just stayed and monopolized your son’ silent apology.

After the day he sends the two of them to the waterfall, the lion calms. That, combined with Yurio’s new performance in practice, tells him he finally found his agape.

Yuuri on the other hand...he’s still worried, though he doesn’t show it. He _is_ sure he can find it and really make the routine his own, but they’re running low on time.

He needn’t have worried, Yuuri shows up completely different the day of, and gives the best performance he’s done, he finally shows off what he knows he’s capable of, after the pole dancing he’s seen him do.

When he finds out Yurio is gone, he’s partly relieved but mostly sad, the two Yuris were finally getting along and he was looking forward to spending time with both of them.

It’s put out of his mind by the news he has to wait even _longer_ for his familiar now.

\-----

“So you haven’t met your soulmate?” Victor asks, that day at the beach, question feeling like an itch he just can’t reach, a need to know that he _shouldn’t_ be pressuring him about.

Yuuri blinks at the question. “No...I thought it became a bit clearer after the grand prix, but that must’ve been my imagination.”

Victor pauses, he hadn’t intended to bring this up, but the guilts been eating at him and he wants to get away from the uncomfortable topic. “I’m sorry. That day.” he can’t bring himself to try to elaborate. He really should’ve apologized at the banquet but it hadn’t felt right to bring it up then, and he just showed in other ways that he recognized him.

Yuuri looks over at him, still calm but confused. “O-oh, the photo thing?” he asks, thankful his voice doesn’t crack.

He nods, “I got so used to winning I stopped paying as much attention to the new competition.” his fist clenches slightly in Makkachin’s fur. “I wanted to go after you and apologize immediately, but Yakov…” he shrugs slightly.

“It felt pretty bad when a kid from the juniors division recognized me, but not my idol.” he admits softly. “But I can’t blame you, after how poorly I performed.”

Victor looks over at him as the wind blows through their hair. Yuuri’s never been so open with him before, he isn’t entirely sure what to do about this, he can practically feel something physically change about their relationship. “Still doesn’t make it okay.”

“...thank you.” he replies finally. “Have _you_ met your soulmate?” he asks, trying to get away from the topic.

He shakes his head. “No, it got...more blurry recently.” he admits out loud. “I can’t help but feel...I screwed up somewhere along the way.” he didn’t mean to spill this secret but there’s something about Yuuri’s presence that makes him feel like it’s okay.

“Victor…” he says softly. “I’m sorry.” he adds, unsure what to say after that.

He waves it off. “It’ll happen, maybe I just pushed back the day on accident.” he smiles at Yuuri, not believing it himself but not wanting him to feel bad. “Slept in on a day I wasn’t supposed to.” he laughed slightly.

Yuuri laughs as well, wrapping an arm around Makkachin as well. “You would.”

It occurs to Victor he hasn’t seen Yuuri’s animal, it’d been mysteriously missing at the banquet, even. He opens his mouth to ask, but then remembers he hasn’t been truthful himself and shuts it. Maybe it died recently, he wouldn’t want to dig open a wound like that.

For a second he entertains the thought that that’s why the animal in his dreams got blurry, he wouldn’t be seeing it because it died. He immediately feels horrible for even thinking that, and pushes it to the back of his mind. No more soulmate things, it’s complicated and it’ll happen when it happens. He won’t bug Yuuri about it either, he seems tender about the topic.

Some torturous part of his mind keeps the thought in the back of his head, that they could be soulmates. He could be lucky enough to have this wonderful man as his soulmate.

He tries to smother that part of his brain, since when did he _want_ to be Yuuri’s soulmate anyway?

(Probably since he got to Japan.)

\-----

Yuuri’s asleep in the common room one night, and he looks down at him and sighs, fondly. He has no idea what he was up doing, but he couldn’t sleep like that, he wouldn’t be able to practice.

Luckily, Makkachin takes it into his paws, pawing at his side and licking his face.

“V-Vicchan?” Yuuri slurs sleepily, but hopefully, a tad confused.

“Yuuri?” Victor blinks in confusion, he’s never called him that before, how did he even know he was there?

He blinks his eyes open and glances at him before closing them, “Oh, Victor,” he grabs at Makkachin. “And this is Makkachin. Right.” he slumps over, cuddling to Makkachin “Not...Vicchan.” and falls back asleep.

He feels a catch in his chest, Vicchan...was an animal...an animal that was not around. An animal Makkachin reminds him of. A lump forms in his throat and he can’t bring himself to wake him up again, just moves him to be more comfortable with Makkachin before he goes back to his room.

Vicchan. He wonders what it was. He wonders why Yuuri’s mom calls him that, surely knowing it must be reminding Yuuri of the original Vicchan.

\-----

Yuuri wakes up to Makkachin’s head on his chest. He smiles slightly, petting the still sleeping dog.

“Yuuri! You’re awake.” Victor says, softly.

“Oh, Victor, good morning.” he replies, still petting him.

The room is empty besides them, it’s early enough still.

“Can...can I ask you something? You don’t have to tell me but…” Victor trails off, looking more uncertain than Yuuri’s ever seen him.

“Uh, sure?” he has no idea what Victor would want to ask him, that he could be this conflicted about asking him.

“Does it bother you that your mother calls me Vicchan?” he asks, seriously. As much as he loves how it shows his mother has accepted him, if it’s causing him pain he’ll insist on going by something else.

Yuuri blinks at him, “Huh? Why would it bother me?”

“I...last night you thought Makkachin was a ‘Vicchan’ and…” he trails off, unsure of how to continue, not wanting to imply anything wrong.

“Oh.” he says softly, sitting up slowly as Makkachin falls into his lap and he continues petting as he snoozes. “It doesn’t bother me no, it did the first few times, but I’m used to it now. Vicchan died while I was in competitions.” he pulls Makkachin a bit more fully into his lap for comfort. “He was a lot like Makkachin. It’s been nice to have Makkachin here as well.” he says softly, before looking up in slight alarm, “Not that I’m trying to steal your familiar from you or anything! It’s just been comforting.”

Victor is confused for a second before he remembers that Yuuri doesn’t know about the wolf and that he’s _told_ him Makkachin is his. “No, it’s fine. I just wanted to make sure I wasn’t bringing up bad memories or anything. If he makes you feel better you’re free to cuddle with him all you want.” he smiles at him, he wouldn’t normally give up his beloved poodle but Yuuri needs him more than he does. “You just can’t keep him.”

Yuuri laughs softly, “I wouldn’t dream of separating the two of you.”

“Then it’s all good.” he grins, “You should go get dressed for the day though.”

Yuuri looks up at him and then down at Makkachin, then back up at him with a glint in his eyes. “But I’d be breaking the law, I can’t possibly move while Makkachin is resting on me!”

Victor grins, “Oh? Well I’ll just have to fix that. Makkachin~” he calls.

Yuuri pouts as the poodle yawns, stretching out over him while he continues to pet him before stumbling over towards Victor.

“Problem solved!” he exclaims, sticking out his tongue at him.

“Okay, okay I’ll go get ready.” Yuuri stands up, stretching and yawning. “Thanks for loaning me Makkachin.”

“Anytime!” he replies, waving him out the room.

\-----

When he enters his room it’s to a rabbit glaring at him with all the ability it has.

“I’m sorry, I fell asleep.” he tries to apologize, going around and getting ready. “I’ll make it up to you, promise.”

The rabbit jumps into his arms the second he changes his shirt and he blinks, petting it. It’s staring up at him more intently than he’s ever seen it.

“I uh…” he tries to think of something to appease it. “I’ll let you sit with Victor when I preform from now on?” he offers. It doesn’t occur to him for awhile that _that_ means Victor will see it soon, and the dream will be over for good.

That’s probably for the best, upon reflection.

The rabbit headbuts his chest slightly and jumps back onto the bed, curling up and falling asleep.

He stares at it in confusion. “Well...thank you for forgiving me?” he offers before he finishes getting ready and heads out.

Familiars are weird.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The first dose of heavy edits to this was the mention of all the familiars, I decided it was high time to throw some other peoples in there lol as well as expanding Yurio's time (yes it was even shorter). 
> 
> I might do a final/bonus chapter about shininagains that happened during Yurio's stay, but it just didn't really fit here.
> 
> The next chapter is mostly a heart to heart from Victor.


	6. The night before

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This was it, he had to tell Yuuri the truth, the clock was ticking down rapidly. 
> 
> It's almost time for Yuuri's promise to his rabbit to be fulfilled as well.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay so I edited chapters 3 and 4 to make this compliant with Episode 10, if you just wanna see the additions, just search "banquet" in chapter 3 and after you hit the end of Yuuri's bit scroll down to Victor's stand alone "almost" and his pov of the banquet is there. Chapter 4 was just minor edits, just the first few paragraphs and the last line or so.
> 
> I'm not sure how to refer to the competition with Minami so I'm just calling it the regionals for simplicitys sake. If someone knows a better thing to call it go ahead and let me know.

There had been complications getting his wolf here, but it was finally on its way. He’d have to tell Yuuri the truth, and explain a lot, and apologize. When he appeared as his coach for the first time, it would be with the wolf though. He smiled slightly, looking forward to finally, finally walking freely with it.

It was on a plane right now, he had to sit down with Yuuri now, before a wolf appeared and scared him, and everyone else here. 

“Yuuri.” he called, and he stopped in the middle of the rink.

“Yeah?” he blinked in confusion, not sure how he could’ve messed up during warm ups. 

“Where’s the regionals held?” he asks, tilting his head curiously. “In relation to...the airport I suppose?” 

“Uh…” he frowns in thought, never the best with streets and distance to begin wtih. “I guess I’d say roughly the same distance the a different direction?” 

Oh, Victor straightens at this, he could make this work. “Thanks, please continue.”

Yuuri shoots him a baffled look but finishes his warm up and they move onto practice.

\-----

“Yuuri.” he says when the common room is empty that night. “Can we talk?”

Yuuri blinks, half-way to his feet. “Uh, yeah sure.” he replies, sitting back down.

“Ah, it’s not about skating or anything if you have something you needed to do.”

“I was just going to get a drink.” he waves it off, keeping his full attention on his coach. “And sleep, soon.” he adds, it  _ is  _ the night before regionals. 

He nods, “It shouldn’t take long.” he pauses as Makkachin rests his head in his lap, smiling slightly as he pets him. “I have a confession.” 

He blinked, shifting a bit closer to him curiously. “Confession?”

“I’ve lied to you about something.” he starts, unsure how to bring it up without hurting him.

Yuuri feels his breath woosh out his chest, did he not think he could do it? Did he not think h-he said this wasn’t about skating. Did he not come here to be his coach? Did he have other, true motives? Was Yuuri just something to pass the time until-

“-uri?” Victor’s face snaps back into focus, eyes crinkled in worry. “Are you too tired? Should I wait until morning?” he asks, raising a hand to check his temperature, “You’re not getting sick are you?”

He stops himself from flinching away, knowing he would only appear sick if he did that. “N-no.” he forces out with breath he didn’t know he had. “I just-please go on.” he can’t confess all the places his mind had gone to. He can’t let him wait, even if he kinda wants him to, he can’t possibly sleep now if he doesn’t know what Victor was going to tell him. He’ll lie awake thinking about it all night.

“Okay…” he frowns slightly, “Well, the first day I was here, you asked me a question. I was waiting for something so I lied.” it was the first time he’d ‘confirmed’ Makkachin and it made him feel guilt deep in his gut, the first person he out right lied to and it was  _ Yuuri _ . Wonderful Yuuri who’d burst into his life and completely changed it, Yuuri who had shied away from his flirtations but never outright rejected it, Yuuri who deserved much better than being lied to. “Makkachin is just my pet.” he says finally. “I love him dearly, but, still a pet.” he can’t quite bring himself to look at his expression.

Yuuri’s brain stops. Makkachin...is just a pet. He’s only slightly upset Victor outright lied to him, but they’d barely exchanged a word at the time, and it’d been a bit rude to ask. Makkachin is a pet. He doesn’t have some other animal here with him though, there’s no way he would’ve been able to hide it from his parents when he got here, unless it was tiny.

That small spark of hope he’d been keeping flares a bit brighter but he shoves it back down, this is  _ not  _ the time to get wrapped up in his crush. This is about  _ Victor _ . 

Victor is waiting for some kind of verbal reply, he wishes he’d gotten that drink now as he licks his lip and tries to swallow. “Why the lie?” it’s...confusing. “Did you think I would run and tell the press? Why confirm it was Makkachin though if that was what you were worried about? Unless you were testing me…” he feels a bitter taste well up in his mouth. Was he testing him from that first moment? Trying to find out if he was worth his time?

Victor’s head snaps up, “No! It wasn’t about you at all!” he says quickly. “Its complicated though.” he sighed. 

“...” Yuuri opens and closes his mouth. “Should I get us some water?” he spits out, and immediately feels like a fool.

Victor huffs out a laugh and Makkachin sits up, tail wagging. “Probably. Sorry, I know this is weird.” 

“Ah, I’m a bit lost and confused, I don’t know why you’re suddenly telling me this.” there’s an unspoken ‘before a competition’ in there as he gets up and quickly gets them both a glass of water. “But, I’m listening.” he smiles at him, taking a sip of the cool water.

Victor takes a sip as well, knowing he’s probably going to talk more than he thought he was. But this was Yuuri, he deserved the truth. “When I was small, I wanted a poodle. Eventually I was allowed to get one, after I started getting popular, but I was told I could only have the dog if I pretended it was my familiar. I wanted it bad enough that I agreed, I figured it would only last a few years anyway and I never outright said it, I just let people speculate.” Makkachin cut him off with a yawn and stood up, flopping into Yuuri’s lap, causing the younger to giggle slightly. “Eventually, quite late, I finally found my familiar.” his voice goes soft as he loses himself in the memory. “I was so elated, finally the half-lies were going to be over.” 

Yuuri blinked at him in worry, shifting a bit closer.

“But, they’d taken a gamble. They had several top coaches lined up, waiting, waiting to see if it would pay off.” his voice trails off, he hadn’t found out for years that it wasn’t just Yakov, they had half a dozen, hoping that he would match one of them. “They took a gamble that they could pair me up with a coach with an animal that matched mine, that could swap with theirs on going out in public with me, so they could keep the lie going.” 

Yuuri stared at him in slight horror. “How could they?  _ Why  _ would they?” he couldn’t begin to understand it, why they would try and stop their son from finding his soulmate, why they fought so hard to make it so, tempting a child with something he desperately wanted and taking a long term gamble.

“I still don’t know.” he took a sip. “Obviously, it was a success. I remember the night I found out their plans, I was stunned. I hadn’t thought for even a second we’d continue the lie…” he smiled slightly, “But, I came up with a plan, a plan I was sure would work. A plan to flaunt mine on the days most people would see it. Then I’d just have to announce I was looking for someone with, I don’t know, a raccoon or something, and the person that came forward not saying a dog, would be the one I was looking for.”

“What was the plan?” he asked, hand no longer moving in Makkachin’s fur.

“I cultivated a strong amount of stage-fright if I had to go without my familiar around.” he’d had to be so careful, to not make it obvious, to make it seem real. He even had to purposefully flub jumps. “So they just started planning for mine to be the one going out with us any day I had to compete. All those people in a stadium, surely, surely one of them would be the one. The odds were in my favor.”

“But it didn’t happen.” Yuuri said softly.

Victor shrugged, “It’s impossible to know if they were ever even there, if they even care about skating. I knew it was never guaranteed. I never saw them after all. But I choose to try and let the most people see it, instead of relying on chance.”

They sat in silence for awhile, Victor letting Yuuri absorb while he looked down into his glass.

“Why…” Yuuri swallowed, “Why are you telling me this now?”

“I can’t just decide to tell you big secrets randomly?” he pouted playfully, but his heart wasn’t in it.

“Not the night before a competition.” Yuuri replied, if this was any other night he could accept Victor just wanting to share this with him.

“You’re right of course.” he leaned back on his hands. “I was hoping to bring it here before much time had passed, I wanted the truth to be finally out there. But Yurio appeared and I panicked, I pushed back the date. And then things happened.” he looked over at him. “It was going to come  _ here _ , but I realized I could have it waiting for us at the competition instead, or else it would’ve shown up right around now, and I’d be explaining why there was a predator at the door.” he laughed slightly. “I decided to not panic the wonderful people here at Yu-topia.”

“Oh.” he said softly, not having expected that, but he probably should’ve, what with the question earlier and having this conversation right now.

“I just felt like you should know before hand, since you’re the only one I outright lied to, I’m sorry.” 

He blinked, turning to face Victor, who was looking down at Makkachin, hiding his face. “I’m not angry that you lied to me Victor. I understand.” he paused slightly, “You were scared weren’t you? You’d uprooted your life and got away from your parents plotting, somehow managed to get two animals out of the country, ready to come out and show the world the truth.” he felt like he’d stumbled across the truth. “You were elated but also, terrified.” 

Victor’s mouth was dry, but he managed a small nod. 

Yuuri paused for a second, before he leaned over and hugged him. “Victor, you have nothing to fear from me. Or anyone else here.”

Victor jerked when the arms wrapped around him, but slowly let himself relax into the embrace. “I didn’t want it to come out anyway but a very public way.” he said softly. “I didn’t want to give anyone a chance to say I was lying.”

Yuuri hugged him a bit tighter. “I’m sure you’ll find them.” he said softly, “If not tomorrow, somewhere along our journey.” 

Victor smiled, “So sure you’ll go far all the sudden?” he asked teasingly.

“Well, I have to now.” he replied. “If not for myself, to give you the best chance.” he wanted to prove to himself that he was better than his failure last year, but the thought of helping Victor find his soulmate filled him with even more determination, his crush lost to the wind. His feelings didn’t matter, he could be upset when Victor finally found his soulmate, but not before. Victor needed as much exposure as he could get him, and he wasn’t going to let his crush and his wish that he could be his, stop him from being happy.

Victor had twisted to look at him, to object, but he saw the fire in his eyes, a fierce determination to do his best to help him, reminding him of when he’d challenged Yurio to the dance off.

He felt a deep, dirty, pang of jealousy for whomever would have that determination at their side when Yuuri found his soulmate. 

“Thank you.” he said instead, looking away and pulling Makkachin up into a hug and burying his face in his fur. He hoped he wasn’t being too obvious about the tears gathering in his eyes, but nobody had ever put his  _ happiness _ first, and that was clearly what Yuuri was promising here. Sure, people put him and his  _ success _ first, and his health, and enough happiness to stop him from being distracted, but nothing...nothing like this. Not even Makkachin had been a gift to make him  _ happy _ , it was a way to manipulate a child.

Yuuri just pulled him closer. “I do have a small favor to ask of you tomorrow.” he said softly, suddenly unsure. “Ah-nevermind.” surely the bunny wouldn’t hold him against him? He could try at least.

Victor blinked, looking up at him after a discreet wipe of his face on Makkachin. “What?” he’d been planning to ask him to do something? But this suddenly changed his mind? He’d sounded very sure up until he finished his sentence too. 

“Ah...It might take away from your...er...announcement.” if Victor showed up with two animals tomorrow people might think he was lying, he couldn’t possibly have that.

“Yuuri…” he frowned, “I’m sure it wouldn’t. Besides, it’s as much yoru day as it is mine.” he had no clue what Yuuri could be talking about, “Your showing off your routines for the first time.”

He paused, “I’ll think on it some more, if not tomorrow, the next day.” he added after a moment, surely the bunny would let Victor have his moment. Besides, this would be the end of the bunny-exile. 

He still frowned at him. “Fine.” he sighed, “If you’re sure.” 

“Ah-it was kinda silly anyway.” asking Victor to hold a bunny every time Yuuri was skating? How was he going to convince him to do that in the first place?

“I doubt that.” he replied, “Not if you’re this serious about it.” 

“Anyway, I’m glad you told me, everything. You could’ve just told me you lied and your real familiar was going to be there tomorrow and have that be the end, but you choose to tell me everything else.” he smiled at him, tugging him closer for a moment before letting go completely. “It means a lot to me that you trust me that much. But we have to get to bed, well I do at least.” 

“Of course.” he stands. “We can’t have you tired tomorrow.”

“Good night Victor, sleep well. I can’t wait to find out myself tomorrow.” he grinned through a yawn. 

“I had to keep something a surprise for you.” After all, since he met him Yuuri’s been nothing but surprises, from the banquet to resisting his advances to, well, to this, wanting to go further not for himself, but to help Victor. Victor replied with a grin, heading down to his room. “Good night!” he adds over his shoulder.

Yuuri returns to an angry bunny. Again.

“Can I plead my case in the morning?” he asks it, sitting on his bed.

It sighs, if bunnies can sigh, clearly fed up with him but scoots to let him lay down before laying down promptly on his face.

“Okay, I deserve that.” he mutters, muffled.

A headache slowly grows from the pressure.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next chapter: Victor and his wolf are reunited, Yuuri preforms Eros and keeps his promise...sorta.


	7. Finally, familiars are out

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This was it, the first day of the skating season. 
> 
> This was it, the first day people would know the truth about Victor's familiar.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Episode 11 has destroyed me and I wish this was a fluffier chapter to make up for it but it's not.
> 
> I love this chapter still though.

He wakes up an hour early and spends the entire hour convincing the bunny to just this last time, hide in his backpack during competition. He bribes it with the knowledge it can remain at his side after tomorrow, and it finally jumps into the bag, and he zips it before it can change it’s mind.

Victor is shining. That’s the only way he can think of to describe it. Victor is elated that today the truth will be out. His happiness is contagious, and he finds himself smiling as well as they head over.

“So do I get to see it early or are you just gonna sneak it in at some point?” he can’t help but ask.

Victor laughs slightly, “I’m not sure, it’s probably mad at me, should probably just go straight to it and go on with the day.”

Yuuri smiles, “Sounds good. I’m happy for you Victor.”

As they near the rink, Victor gets on the phone, Yuuri tries not to listen in on the conversation, assuming it must be about the animal waiting for them. The voice on the other end gets irritated before it gets slightly panicked and a few seconds of stunned silence from Victor later, there is the sound of a bark.

Yuuri spins in place and sees a full grown wolf rushing directly at them, looking as angry as he’s ever seen a wolf. Thoughtlessly he puts himself between it and Victor, even partly frozen in terror as he is.

The wolf stops an inch from his stomach, staring at him and then sniffing him for a moment, before it shoves him aside as it moves past him, staring at Victor in a very familiar way.

Like his bunny when he’s done something dumb regarding it.

“O-oh.” he laughs, shaking in the aftershocks of panic.

Victor slaps his back. “Nice to know you’ll put yourself between me and a bloodthirsty beast, but yes, this is my familiar.” he looks down at it fondly, crouching and petting it, speaking to it in russian.

“It fits you.” the words slip past his lips before he realizes he’s thought it, and he colors brightly.

Victor laughs again, “Thank you.” 

“No problem.” he replies without thinking, pulling his backpack tighter to his back. “Ah, we should just go inside then right?”

Victor nods, standing up straight with his wolf at his side, where it belongs. Yuuri can’t help but smile, both of them are showing their happiness in small ways, the way they stand, the way Victor seems to just _glow_.

He’s glad Victor has this chance to finally be free.

He hears the gasps of shock as people realize there’s a wolf at Victor's side, new rounds of gasps going up every time they move a few yards forward and more people catch sight of it.

He’s sure Victor hears the whispers as well as he does.

“A wolf?”

“Where’s that been all this time?”

“That’s Victor’s right? Not the other guy…”

“Nah his is pretty small, he’s always been worried about people stepping on it.”

“Oh I hope I dream about a wolf tonight!”

“That’s about the right size…”

“Can you believe Victor has a wolf?”

“Gah mine’s some kind of bird, I couldn’t get lucky enough to have Victor as my soulmate.”

It continued as they traversed the halls, and Yuuri edged just a bit closer to Victor, not used to so many people staring in his direction off the ice. Victor took it all in stride, just walking the halls, taking Yuuri’s silent cues on where to turn.

He did hope that someone dreamt of a wolf tonight though, Victor deserved it.

 _He’ll find his soulmate and be happy with them, and...and...and he’ll leave me to go be with them…_ the thought hit him like a bucket of cold water and he gasped silently, looking up at the back of Victor’s head. He’d made a big deal of getting Victor and his wolf as much attention as he could, but what about when that actually happened? Would Victor pick up and leave? Go get to know the mystery person?

Would Victor even entertain the idea of staying to coach him if he finally found his soulmate?

He swallowed, trying to wet his dry mouth. He didn’t want to give Victor up, he wanted to make it to the grand prix with him at his side. His eyes moved back to the halls, not bothering to school his expression to something a bit less sad, Victor had all the attention and he didn’t have a reason to look back at him.

Could he even ask Victor to stay if he found them? Could he look him in the face and ask him to stay with him? Could he be that selfish to delay Victor’s happiness?

He shook the thoughts out of his head with some force. He could deal with it when it happened, for now, Victor was here. He was going to take advantage of that until the last second, and he could only hope that Victor would think of him as a friend and stay in contact. He would deal with the soulmate when they appeared, and wouldn’t worry about it. _Would they insist Victor go back to skating? Would Victor listen to them?_ Most people at these events would want Victor back on the ice, would he turn down his soulmate if that’s what they wanted him to do? He didn’t think Victor would just bow to their demands but if _he_ wanted to go back to skating too, a little nudge would be more than enough...

He knew Victor reasonably well now, he thought, but he had no idea. He wanted to believe the part of his mind that was screaming at him that Victor wouldn’t just abandon him, he trusted him so much last night.

But the other part of his mind was so much _louder_ telling him Victor could and would be gone tomorrow if he found his soulmate.

He walked straight into Victor’s back when he stopped, and drew back, shaking the thoughts out of his head and schooling his expression in the same movement. “Sorry.” they’d reached the desk and he quickly moved up to fill out paperwork.

Victor observed him, he’d glanced back to say something several minutes earlier, but he’d seemed deep in thought about _something_ but he didn’t have a clue what about. He looked torn up and he’d wanted to help, but he didn’t know what it was about and bringing the attention of strangers already staring at _him_ to Yuuri wouldn’t have been helpful. He wondered if it was that favor he’d mentioned the night before, Yuuri hadn’t brought it up yet and he was going to bring it up himself soon if he didn’t.

They headed over to the early practice, and Yuuri paused, fiddling with the bag that’d been on his back the entire time, before he finally sat it down carefully on the ground. “Don’t kick it.” he said before he stepped out on the ice and skated away, leaving Victor no time to respond to it.

It was tempting, oh so tempting, to reach down and look in the bag, but he resisted it, focusing fully on Yuuri’s practice instead. He nearly dragged his wolf away when it sniffed at it but it quickly stopped so he didn’t have to worry about it digging into the bag or something. The bag either brought him comfort or anxiety and he couldn’t be sure which just yet, so he was going to leave it alone, he couldn’t set off his anxiety right now. He’d ask him about it later, in at least two days.

He couldn’t help but laugh slightly at the kid that clearly idolized his Yuuri, staring at him in open adoration. Yuuri was clearly embarrassed and slightly baffled at the staring. Victor was glad someone else was proud of his student, even if he was younger than him. There was a really colorful bird flapping around that he could only see as belonging to that kid, what with the matching red spot on the front of their heads.

When the practice ended he gave him a few pointers before he went back to the car to get his clothes to change into. He was a coach now, and he couldn’t remain there in these casual clothes. Yuuri wanted him to be a coach so a coach he shall be, and he was going to look the part.

Yuuri was clearly embarrassed by his changing into a suit, but he couldn’t resist grinning at him, he was his coach now and though most people weren’t taking him seriously (such as everyone that had been at the banquet), the two of them were.

He tried to figure out something to say as motivation before the warm-up but Yuuri went on the ice without a word. Though the bag was once again at Victor’s feet.

He still looked troubled.

As he was the first up, he didn’t leave the ice after the warm up, just skating over for a drink. Luckily Victor had come up with something to help motivate him.

“Y-”

“Please, hold the bag.” Yuuri said in a rush, not quite looking directly at him.

“Yuuri?” he blinked, taken aback by the sudden, strange statement.

“I-I’ll explain after, please hold it?” he asked, less demanding this time.

He blinked again, wondering if he’d ever understand his student, before nodding slightly. “In a moment, turn around Yuuri.” Of course it was in part because Yuuri _was_ so surprising that he was here to begin with, so he really had no room to object.

It was Yuuri’s turn to blink at him in total confusion. “Huh?”

“Turn around, okay?” he said, just slightly irritated.

He jumped slightly and turned around, probably figuring there was something wrong with the suit he had to fix, judging from the way he arched his back out towards him a bit. “Like this?”

Before he lost his confidence he leaned forward and hugged him tightly, closing his eyes as he pulled him as close as he could with the barrier.

Yuuri made several startled and unsure noises, but didn’t pull away, which gave him the confidence to whisper to him. “Seduce me with all you have. If your performance can charm me, you’ll enthrall the entire audience. Just like I always say.” He would probably never tell him just how good he was at that, he could do it while he was drunk out of his mind and he could do it without trying sober.

“Y-yes…” he skated out into position, waiting for the opening notes.

He caught him peering at him and swiftly picked up the bag carefully with a thumbs up at him, which seemed to put him the rest of the way at ease.

He only messed up one jump, and not majorly, and he nearly squeezed the bag hard in his glee. Though he was quick to lecture him when he walked off the ice. There shouldn’t have been pressure on him in this regional competition, he could’ve scored significantly higher.

Yuuri looked somewhat let down but seemed to take it to heart.

He didn’t even realize he was still holding the bag until he realized the Makkachin tissue box was still on the rail, he was going to hand it to Yuuri but he was distracted and didn’t want to chance one of them accidentally letting it fall to the ground so he put the box under his arm and held the bag carefully in his arms, holding back his glee when Yuuri was roped into an interview he was clearly not expecting.

He was not expecting Yuuri’s response to his fan though, most of it came from his own lack of confidence but this was someone that looked up to him! He should be motivating him and pushing him to do better! That’s just what you did when someone looked up to you, especially a kid like this, brimming with positive energy.

He wondered if that was really based off one of Yuuri’s old costumes, he wondered if he could find a video of it.

But then Minami was challenging his student and he wondered if this situation could actually be salvaged, if he could nudge Yuuri in the right direction to give this kid motivation.

Once they were alone again he passed the bag off to Yuuri again, before pulling the Makkachin plush up and doing what he’d been dying to do this whole time, speaking through it again while at the same time giving him coaching advice. They really didn’t want his score here to be his highest and he also didn’t want Yuuri to worry too much about the difficulty of the jumps, he had a decent lead and even with the changes the program was still worth a lot of points.

Something about the way he reacted told him he wasn’t actually going to listen to him.

“Yuuri, I meant to ask earlier, but what was that favor you were going to ask me to do?” he finally asked in the locker room.

Yuuri froze like a deer in headlights, “O-oh you did remember that.”

He frowned, wolf sitting at his side. “Of course I did, why wouldn’t I?”

He sighed slightly, holding the bag a bit tighter to his chest. “Promise you won’t laugh?”

“Of course not.”

“Well you kinda did it,” he admitted, shooting him a smile, “I don’t really want to explain the full reasons behind this, especially not here.” he tossed an arm out slightly, gesturing to the open doors. “But uh, I kinda made it really mad at me and the only way to make it happy again was to promise you’d hold it during competitions from now on, but then you told me you were going to make a statement with your wolf today and I didn’t want there to be any doubt against you so I couldn’t possibly ask you, but the guilt was eating away at me so I just had you hold the bag instead.” he didn’t take a breath the entire time he was talking, Victor noted absently.

“I’m a bit confused.” Victor admitted, not sure exactly what ‘it’ was.

“A-ah sorry.” He fumbled with the zipper, and a rabbit popped it’s head out.

He blinked, still confused, before it started to fall into places. “Oh, this is your familiar?” he asked, holding a hand out to it. It sniffed at him before butting his hand. He frowned, “Why haven’t I seen it?”

“Ah-that’s uh, the part I don’t really want...to explain.” he said slowly.

He pursed his lips in thought, “So, Vicchan was just a pet?” some people did name their companions, but he hadn’t referred to it as Vicchan that entire time.

Yuuri blinked at him before he gasped slightly, “O-oh you thought-I’m sorry I would’ve told you sooner if I knew-I’m sorry, yes, Vicchan was my poodle.”

He had a million questions he _wanted_ to ask, but part of his mind was stuck on. _This could fit the animal in my dreams. But he’s seen my wolf before and hasn’t said anything-Vicchan the poodle?_ Shoving all those thoughts away he returned his full attention to Yuuri. “I understand why you didn’t want me to hold it today, it would’ve sent mixed signals.”

He nodded quickly, “Yeah and that was the last thing I wanted to do to you, put you in a position where people were arguing about what your real animal was again.” hesitantly, he smiled at him.

Victor smiled back, “Yuuri, you’re so thoughtful. Last night and today, just thinking about me when I’m here to help _you_.”

“I consider us friends Victor, of course I’d think of you.” he replied, softly.

“Well, now all our life-changing secrets are out there.” Victor smiled at him, “So you have nothing to worry about tomorrow.”

Yuuri tried not to dwell on the fact Victor hadn’t affirmed that they were friends. Just like he avoided the thought from the second he laid eyes on the wolf that it _fit_ his dream. Or it could rather, but he wasn’t thinking about that now was he.

Just like Victor insisted to himself he wasn’t thinking how a bunny fit in his dreams. He didn’t dare to hope this wonderful man was his soulmate.

Of course even if he did dream of the bunny it didn’t mean things were going to work out like he hoped. Yuuri had never mentioned his wolf, Yuuri had to have a different soulmate. It was common enough for there to be a mixed up matching of familiars to dreams, but those were always handled on a case by case basis with the individuals. Sometimes they became polyamorous relationships, other times they all were just friends, sometimes people paired up within and without, nothing was set in stone.

Maybe he could win Yuuri over regardless of his other soulmate?

\-----

Yuuri could not fall asleep. He cuddled the bunny close to his chest and at least an hour in Makkachin walked in his room and hopped up onto his bed and he cuddled him too.

He was scared to go to sleep. Scared of going to sleep and seeing a wolf. Scared of _not_ seeing a wolf. Scared of what it would mean either way.

Scared of what Victor would think of him. If he was his soulmate, it was all Yuuri’s fault he didn’t know before. He’d hidden his rabbit as far away from him as he could, would Victor resent him for keeping it secret? Would he hate him for making him suffer, thinking something bad had happened, thinking it was his own fault or the fault of his past self for falling for his parents trick?

Even regardless of all that, even if none of that mattered, what would Victor think of _him_? He had a crush on Victor, of course, he wouldn’t be surprised if Victor already knew, but it was different to coach a random kid that had a crush on you, and be their soulmate. He was nowhere near Victor’s level, he still wasn’t sure how he’d brought him here, how he’d kept him here. He was just a 6, and Victor was a 1.

He had issues, issues Victor didn’t fully know about, issues Victor wouldn’t want to deal with. His anxiety was a beast, no matter what he knew logically, his anxiety screamed so much louder than facts.

His heart beat furiously in his chest. What would Victor do if they were soulmates? Would he reject him? Claim he didn’t dream of a bunny and that clearly Yuuri had seen another wolf? _Would he?_ The thought stopped him in his turbulent thoughts. After all all he had was his own word, Victor could claim he was lying, could claim he hadn’t seen the animal that night in his dream, claim Yuuri was lying, using this new knowledge to get into his pants.

Like so many other fans would try to do.

He curled tight around both animals.

If he dreamed of a wolf tonight...he wouldn’t tell him. He couldn’t tell him. Victor would just think he was lying.

So it didn’t matter if the wolf was there or not, nothing would change.

He was finally able to drift off to an uneasy sleep.

\-----

Victor stared, emotionless at the ceiling, wolf across his chest.

What if he dreamt of a bunny tonight?

The thought haunted him as much as it made his heart soar. It was almost impossible that soulmates would fall in love before they realized they were soulmates, but he had. He had fallen for Yuuri. Fallen for him and his cute mannerisms, him and his soft eyes, the glint in his eyes when he would skate eros, his openness.

He’d probably properly fell in love with him that day on the beach, when he threw the idea of being his boyfriend out there and Yuuri protested strongly, insisting he just wanted Victor to be _Victor_. But he was Victor Nikiforov.

There was no just _Victor,_ he has always playing up some identity, a playboy, a flirt, a man who never took anything seriously. He was always trying to give people what they expected of him, and then twisting it just enough to surprise them.

He didn’t know how to be just _Victor_.

People had said that before, they wanted him to be himself. But they were always disappointed. So he stopped believing them, shoving so much of himself down, letting it out here and there when it would be shocking but not life-changing.

Part of him insisted Yuuri was different because this was _Yuuri_ this wonderful man he’d gotten so close to. Yuuri was a fan, but he didn’t just tell him everything he wanted to know, he made him work for it. Made him work to know Yuuri, made him care to know who Yuuri was.

And he found himself hungry for more. He wanted to know everything about him, why he did so many things, why he was able to tap into...something for his eros performances. Why he shied away from his touch but never outright rejected it, never told him not to touch. Why he put up with some of the things he did, why he looked at him sometimes with eyes glinting happily, enough to brighten a room.

What would he do if he didn’t dream of a bunny? A bitter taste filled his mouth.

What would he do if he did dream of a bunny, but Yuuri wouldn’t believe him or give him a chance to prove that Yuuri should ignore his soulmate for him?

What would he do when he met his soulmate? He’d dreamed about it so long, but he didn’t know if they would actually like him or just his skater self.

He needed to sleep, Yuuri needed him tomorrow. It was going to be the first time he showed the world Yuri on Ice, he had to be there for him.

But what if…

He pressed his palms to his eyes. “Stop it. Stop thinking about it, just go to sleep. It either will be Yuuri or it won’t. You’re not going to figure out what to do about it tonight. Go to sleep.” he talked himself through it, in russian in case there was anyone listening.

No matter what, Yuuri needs him there tomorrow. He needs him to be there and support him, and it’s the least he can do after _his_ promise to take him to the grand prix just to help him find his soulmate.

\-----

Yuuri rolls out of bed silently, sitting down on the edge after a moment, burying his face in his hands.

He tries not to cry.

Makkachin is there, at his side and whining at his distress, pressing up closer and closer, half covering him in dog and he can’t bring himself to pet him, eyes welling up with tears.

 _Idiot, idiot idiot, you big_ **_idiot_ ** . He can’t think straight, just focuses on not crying, he doesn’t even notice as Makkachin bursts out his door, whining loudly. _You stupid, foolish idiot. Stop-stop thinking, pick yourself together, you have to skate today._

\-----

Victor wakes up with a gasp, sitting up straight and sending the wolf flipping. His mind is spinning, still trying to process, he grabs at the wolf’s fur, hand tightening in it.

 _No...no way...there’s no way. No possible way...No….no...no…_ he gets stuck in a loop, mindlessly pulling the wolf more and more into his lap as it whines in soft protest.

Makkachin bursts into his room an unknown time later, tail between his legs and whining like he’s never heard him whine before. His eyes snap to Makkachin and looks him over for an injury, he sounds so painfilled he must be injured.

He jumps out of bed, sheets falling to the floor as he grabs Makkachin and holds him still as he looks over every inch of him. His dog just whines louder, trying to get away but stopping in place when he finally lets go and he jumps halfway across the room. He whines at him, tail still stiffly between his legs.

“M-Makkachin?” he’s baffled, he doesn’t seem hurt but something is clearly wrong.

The wolf huffs, pushing him towards his dog and he blinks between them. “You want me to follow you?” he asks.

Makkachin barks slightly, moving towards the door, once he sees his master is actually following him he tears down the hall the short distance to Yuuri’s room, whining at it and staring at the door and looking at him.

 _Something’s wrong with Yuuri._ The thought hits him like a lightning bolt, freezing the blood in his veins.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I could've ended it at either of the previous two line breaks, but I went with here instead. :)
> 
> The up next should be obvious: Revelations are had
> 
> I have two other ongoing YOI fics now if you like my writing.


	8. We're soulmates!...aren't we?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “Victor-you...you’re my soulmate…” he said softly.
> 
> “Yuuri!” he gasped, “How could you? I thought you of all people wouldn’t lie about this!"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I honestly didn't think the cliffy from last chapter was that bad, I'm glad you all love/hated it though! 
> 
> Deviated from my past chapter summaries because this was just calling to me :)
> 
> Please don't give up on these idiots just yet.
> 
> Mood music: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RBumgq5yVrA

He runs down the hall, throwing the door open, waiting to look and see what’s wrong and do whatever he can.

His heart lurches out of his chest at the sight of him, fighting back tears valiantly, hands digging into his hair, bunny at his side trying to get his attention but he doesn’t even react to Victor’s entrance.

Victor can’t move, frozen in heart-wrenching pain, like a knife in his chest, before his legs nearly give up on him and that propels him forward, to Yuuri’s side. He kneels on the ground next to the bed, unsure of how to proceed, hands reaching for him without his conscious decision.

“Y-Yuu-” his throat closes and he swallows, “Yuuri.” he prompts softly, hands moving slowly closer. “Yuuri, Yuuri what’s wrong?” his heart twists in pain again as Yuuri still doesn’t react. “Yuuri…” he puts a hand feather-light, on his leg.

Yuuri takes a deep breath, a gasp really, and his eyes refocus and he notices Victor and the tears start falling, as he tries to scramble back from him.

Victor’s heart jerks with him but he lets him go, raising his hands quickly in a gesture of peace. “Yuuri, Yuuri, I’m here, it’s okay.” he tries, unsure if he’s truly aware.

Yuuri just shakes his head in denial, mouthing something soundlessly.

His own eyes want to fill with tears at the pained expression on his face. “Yuuri…” he pauses, unsure if he should move closer or away or what he should say, he doesn’t have a clue what’s wrong. But Yuuri’s sitting there, tears rolling down his cheeks and face scrunching up as he holds back his sobs, shoulders shaking now and then and he has to do something but he’s never comforted someone like this, someone he cares about so much.

“Makkachin really loves you, you know?” he throws out there, spitting out the first thing that’s not a demand for answers. “He came barreling into my room whining and giving me a heart attack, because he was so worried about you.” he offers him a smile.

“I...I’m sorry.” he replies and that’s far from what he wants to hear but it’s a reaction at least.

“No, don’t be. I’m glad he likes you so much.” he’s grasping at straws, hands still raised awkwardly. “Yuuri-I-what can I do? How can I help?” he asks, completely out of his element and desperate.

“P-p-please go away.” he’s curling up with his knees to his chin, closing his eyes.

The words feel like a punch in the gut. “Yuuri…” he reaches towards him then pulls back. “I...did you fall asleep at all yet?” he asks, then immediately regrets it, it wouldn’t matter if he had!

Yuuri’s eyes snap open and to him. “Y-you asked w-what you could d-do to help...no-now do it!” his voice is shaking between his sorrow and his sobs.

Victor feels like he just fell on the ice, cold seeping into his skin. “O-ok...okay.” he says, standing up and wiping his eyes on his arm as he does, masking it as a hand helping to push himself up. He feels numb all over. This is his fault. It’s all his fault Yuuri is falling apart like this. He was selfish and tried to find his soulmate and now Yuuri’s a complete wreck.

He heads towards the door, numb to the world, not even aware of the tears tracking down his own cheeks. It’s his fault. For being so selfish.

He couldn’t just be happy with winning so many gold medals.

Why did he have to chase after the man who stole his heart but was clearly not his soulmate?

\-----

Yuuri’s heart stops at the sight of Victor’s tears, that’s his fault. Victor is just trying to help because he cares about him and he turns around and hurts him like that.

An arm reaches out for him, his mouth opens, apology on his lips.

But then he’s gone.

He starts sobbing in earnest. Why did he have to worry Makkachin like that? Why couldn’t he just deal with it? Why….why did he have to hurt Victor?

He feels teeth softly tugging at his wrist, and tugs back. “N-No Makkachin!” he manages, burying his face harder into his knees.

The answering growl is much deeper than he’s ever heard Makkachin make. His head raises, slightly terrified.

The wolf, silver and black, is there. Staring at him with its bright blue eyes, snarling slightly, at his bedside.

His heart stops again. “G-go away! Stupid beast.” he demands but doesn’t move to shove it away.

It huffs, hot breath burning his skin, taking a step towards him.

“Why are you _here_? Go to Victor, he needs you right now, he-he’s upset and it’s my fault.” he tries to reason with it.

It nips him softly on the nearest arm, not more than a pinch.

“Go!” he insists again, getting bold enough to push at it a bit.

It nips harder this time, jumping up onto his bed and shoving it’s full weight against him, trying to push him off the bed.

“Stop it! You’re wrong! You’re wrong okay!” he’s not even aware of how loud he’s being any more.

The wolf shoves against him again, growling lowly.

“It’s not me! It can’t possibly be me! I’m just...Yuuri. I’m not worthy of your partner, go away!” he shoves back but the wolf takes advantage of his shifting weight and shoves him off the bed, looking down at him triumphantly.

“Fine.” he mutters, sitting himself back up and crying on the floor instead.

The wolf growls, hackles raising, and jumps down, biting down on his arm hard enough to draw blood this time.

His chokes on a sob turned into a gasp of surprised pain, looking at the wolf that’s still standing there, firmly clamped down on his arm, glaring at him.

“You’re wrong.” he says again, softer. “I’m not the right person for him, you’ve made a mistake. He deserves someone so much better than me.”

It doesn’t move an inch.

“You shouldn’t have been in my dreams, don’t you get it?!” he hisses, tugging his arm towards him, ignoring the pain.

The wolf lets go of his arm, stepping towards him and sending him flying backwards in a panic, until he’s laying fully on the ground.

And then it lays on him. Just it’s full dead weight laying down on him like it’s going to take a nap.

He feels like his ribcage is slowly being crushed, but its not exactly uncomfortable. He doesn’t know how long they lay there, wolf just as stubborn as him.

Once his ribs start to ache he sighs, and the wolf’s head snaps up to look at him. “F-fine. I’ll go talk to him. But I’m going to convince him you’re wrong.” he states firmly.

The wolf grins at him, climbing off him and waiting for him to get up before nosing at the back of his legs to get him moving towards the door.

“You’re just as  bad as him, you know that?”

\-----

Yuuri didn’t want to be with him. Yuuri was so upset he was his soulmate that he was sobbing, completly zoned out, and practically scared of him. He’d dreamed of the wolf in addition to whatever his _actual_ soulmate had and connected the dots and...

Victor had been in denial, overjoyed but not believing that Yuuri, wonderful beautiful Yuuri, could be his soulmate. And...he was right. They were soulmates only in name, and only on his side.

He found his soulmate, after so many years, but he’d just...broken him instead. This was supposed to be a happy moment but he knew _he_ wasn’t Yuuri’s soulmate but Yuuri was his and this was going to be one of those times that things just didn’t end well.

His foot hit something and he tripped, too stunned and out of it to react and try to catch himself, landing face first in the common room. He didn’t move, just laid there. He could hear Yuuri sobbing, even from here, and each one tore at his heart just as much as the first.

Yuuri didn’t want him.

He still couldn’t process that. He’d been so sure the other man wanted him, even without them being soulmates, given everything from the banquet and everything since he showed up. He’d been so sure he’d be able to convince him to be with him anyway but...

Yuuri just wanted him to help him be a better skater. He didn’t want to date him. But he admired him too much to turn him down if he asked him out, overjoyed, and was about to commit himself to a loveless relationship, that’s why he was crying. It was the only thing that made sense.

At least he stopped that horrible trainwreck. He wouldn’t date Katsuki Yuuri. He wouldn’t trap his soulmate, the man he loved, like that. He was glad Makkachin woke him up and showed him this, if he didn’t know Yuuri was crying like this he would’ve happily rushed to him the next morning about how they were soulmates, and Yuuri would’ve gone along with it for his sake.

There was...something on his face. He reached up to rub at it only to connect with a warm body. He glanced over and saw the rabbit, nuzzling his face. “Hello.” he said, voice rough.

It nuzzled him faster.

“I’m sorry. I made Yuuri so upset. You should be with him, he needs some cheering up.” he replied, not quite having the will to push it away from him.

It stared at him with big, brown eyes, and he got the distinct feeling it was irritated with him.

“No wonder he likes to appease you, you’re bossy.” he laughed slightly.

It nosed his nose, hopping a foot away and staring at him.

“I’m not getting up.” he stated. He was going to lay here until he died or had to go to the competition.

The black and silver rabbit promptly hopped up onto his head.

Slowly, but surely, a horrible headache grew.

“You are evil.” he muttered into the floor. It nuzzled the top of his head slightly. “Pure evil.” he added.

He still hadn’t processed the whole ‘Yuuri hates me’ thing yet, distracted by this rabbit and doing his best to _stay_ distracted. Yuuri was having a breakdown, he could have his later, when Yuuri was asleep.

He heard a small noise, the clicking of dog nails on the floor and expected Makkachin to rest his head on his back or something.

“V-Victor?” came Yuuri’s voice instead.

His head snapped up, and the rabbit flopped onto his back. “Y-Yuuri!” he gasped, sitting up quickly and trying to pretend he hadn’t been moping. “I’m sorry for bursting into your room like that, Makkachin was acting like you were dying or something.” he tried to play it off, laughing slightly. “Your rabbit…” he paused unsure what exactly it’d been doing, he took note of his wolf at his side absently.

“Tripped you?” he offered. “It does it to me a lot.”

He laughed, “Oh, that would explain it.”

Yuuri paused, looking down at the wolf who glared at him. “I...I did fall asleep, yes.” he started.

Victor blinked in confusion, having half forgotten his question. “Oh, any new developments?” he smiled at him. “Mine was a bit less blurry, probably because I’m showing my wolf off to the world!”

Yuuri’s mouth opened and closed a few times. “Huh?” he offered dumbly. “But Victor…”

“We’re moving in the right direction, when you win the grand prix, we’ll have seen so many people, surely we’ll find my soulmate _and_ yours!” he threw all of his acting skills into this, nothing he’d ever done had been this important. He couldn’t let Yuuri come out here and accept he was his soulmate for _Victor’s_ sake.

“Victor-you...you’re my soulmate…” he said softly, sounding a bit unsure.

“Yuuri!” he gasped, putting as much hurt as he dared into it. “How could you? I thought you of all people wouldn’t lie about this! I sure didn’t see that cute bunny in my dreams!” he poured all the incredulous emotions he’d ever had into these lines, he had to nail them.

Yuuri’s mouth fell open slightly, and he could hear him take a raspy breath. “V-Victor?” his voice cracked, he sounded like he couldn’t believe this was happening.

Victor grinned at him, glad he’d managed to throw Yuuri off his self-sacrificing kick, sure that his voice was cracking from happiness at being let off the hook. “I suppose I can forgive you, I _am_ Victor Nikiforov after all.” he tossed his head, throwing his most charming, flirty, playboy smile at him. “I’ll forgive you for this, one attempt to get in with your attractive best friend can be forgiven after all!” he threw the friend card in, with a laugh, recalling how Yuuri had called him friend earlier.

Yuuri’s mouth and throat worked, but no sound came out.

Damn, Yuuri was still clinging to this, it looked like he was going to have to pull out the big guns, he could only hope he wasn’t destroying his friendship, but Yuuri’s long term happiness would be worth it. “I mean come _on_ Yuuri,” he laughed slightly, voice ever so slightly high, “Look at you,” he gestured _Wonderful, kind, does his best for others, wears his emotions on his sleeve,_ “And look at me,” he gestured down at himself _fake, horrible, selfish_ . “There’s _no_ way.” He knew he was playing Yuuri’s worst insecurities but he couldn’t let Yuuri try and do this.

“...right.” Yuuri said, so softly Victor almost didn’t hear him. “How could _you_ ever be _my_ soulmate?” he asked, lip curling in a smile. “Stupidest thing I’ve ever heard.” _It really is, I would never be that lucky._ “I’m sorry.” he bowed slightly, and turned, heading back towards his room.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This cliffy is so much worse isn't it? :)
> 
> New edit: Deleted shit comments and hope to work on this soon.


	9. Soulmates

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's actually happening, a year to the day since the last update and cliff-hanger.
> 
> Sorry it took so long, I got some rude messages that utterly devastated me, couldn't even think of this fic for months, I couldn't bring myself to even look at my document for the longest time, despite having this all ready to go.
> 
>  
> 
>  
> 
> If you don't remember anything this is your spoiler tag of sorts to go and reread.

_ There was a wolf, running through the woods, almost close enough to touch. _

_ \--- _

_ There was a rabbit, sleeping in a glade. _

_ \--- _

 

 

_ Drip _

 

 

Victor’s head snapped back from where he’d been looking away at the sound of water hitting the floor, just in time to catch him holding his arm to his chest as he started to walk. His eyes found a drop of blood on the floor. 

“YU-Yuuri!” he nearly shouted, “You’re hurt!” he jumped up, previous (fake) scorn forgotten in a second.

“Ah, it’s nothing.” he waved his good arm behind him.

Victor rushed to his side, pulling his arm from Yuuri’s body and looking at it. He felt the blood drain from his face. “Those are teeth marks.” he said, very softly, he could barely hear himself. He spun and took a glance at his wolf, seeing the smear of blood on it’s muzzle. “How dare you?!” he demanded, staking a step towards it. “How dare you hurt my soulmate!” he froze as he realized what he said. The wolf’s eyes seemed to glint happily.

Yuuri turned to face him. “W-what, Victor-after-”

Victor avoided his gaze, panicking internally, no idea what to do. He couldn’t take back the words said in an angry frenzy.

“V-Victor why would you-why would you  _ lie _ ? Why would you say…” he trailed off and sniffled. “Ah, right of course.” he mumbled quietly. “I’m not good enough.” it was barely a whisper but Victor still heard it and spun to face him instantly.

“Not good enough?!” he demanded, pain heavy in his voice. “Yuuri, I’m the one that doesn’t deserve  _ you _ you idiot!” 

“What? Are you kidding me? You’re Victor Nikiforov and I’m just...Yuuri.” he scoffed, tears vanishing as fast as they’d appeared.

“Yuuri you are  _ amazing _ you are stunning and surprising and anyone you end up with would be the luckiest person in the world. I don’t even know  _ who _ I am!” he shook his head. “I’m Victor Nikiforov, but I’ve always  _ been _ Victor Nikiforov!” All he knew was skating and yeah, people loved him for that, but what did he have going for him as a _person_? Nothing.  


Yuuri blinked at him. “I know who you are.” he replied, “You’re silly, you’re sweet, you dropped everything and went across the world just to try and find your soulmate, you spent so many hours working with me to perfect my routines when you could’ve decided something was good enough, so you could leave me and go be with your soulmate as soon as you could. You’re Victor,” he pauses unsure how to continue.

Victor stared at him, was that really how Yuuri saw him? The last line left a bad taste in his mouth but he could deal with that later. “And you’re so strong, you get determined about something and when you do its amazing, no force on this earth could stop you. You don’t care if its difficult, you’re going to get it done, and you have the skills of a champion.” 

They stared at each other in silence. 

“I thought you were upset you were my soulmate, but you didn’t want to be, and you were going to go along with it for my sake.” Victor said softly.

He shook his head, “I didn’t want to be one of those lying fans, claiming you were my soulmate, I didn’t want you to be disappointed in it just being...me.”

“I  _ wanted _ it to be you.” he doesn’t point out that he wouldn’t be a lying fan given Victor’s own dream.

“I’ve always wanted it to be you. That’s why I didn’t let you see my bunny. I thought...as long as he doesn’t see it, I can pretend i still have a chance, even if I didn’t dream of Makkachin…”

There was silence again.

"But wait-I don't understand, you've seen my wolf before! Your soulmate-its someone else! Just because you're _my_ soulmate doesn't mean you have to be with me!" he shook his head slightly, his chest was about to burst with joy but he still couldn't-couldn't let Yuuri just be with him because of Victor's dream.

Yuuri jerked back in surprise. "No I haven't!"

"Yes you have-I have a picture of you with it!" he dug for his phone flipping rapidly through the pictures.

"I would remember meeting your wolf Victor, and I didn't." Yuuri shook his head.

Victor let out a cry of joy and turned his phone to Yuuri. "Right there! See! You're hugging him!" 

Yuuri's jaw dropped, and he pulled the phone over to him. "I have never hugged any wolf in my life..." but the proof was there, in front of his eyes.

"Yes you did, the night of the gala."

"The night of the-I didn't talk to anyone that night." he shook his head slightly, and his finger slipped on the phone and flipped the picture to a different one.

Another one of him.

Dancing with Victor. 

"W-WHAT?" he gaped at the tiny screen.

Victor leaned over and looked down at it and smiled slightly, "That's my favorite." he blinked suddenly. "Wait-are you saying-you don't remember that night at all?"

"I....I went with my coach because he made me...but I just stood in the corner..."

"Drinking champagne, a lot of it." Victor offered.

Yuuri was looking between the phone and Victor. "I...I danced with you?"

Victor nodded and gently took the phone from him. "So you don't remember that night at all, that's why you don't remember the wolf...so..there...isn't another animal in your dreams? _Your_ soulmate?"

Yuuri shook his head quickly, "No-no it's always been the wolf, the shape-its always been like that." he swallowed and leaned against the wall, mind spinning.

Victor quickly guided him down to the floor. "Deep breaths, its okay."

"I....I'm so sorry." he hid his face in his hands. "If-if I didn't drink so much, I would've remembered-we would've found out so much earlier..."

Victor smiled a bit, tilting his head up. "No, I like it this way. Falling in love with you without knowing, determined to steal you away from your soulmate." he laughed a bit. 

Yuuri turned bright red, "You...fell in love with me?"

"Yes," he kissed his forehead. "I'll tell you more about the banquet another night okay? I think we've both had enough shocks to our systems."

"Me too!" Yuuri blurted. "I-I mean-I fell in love with you too-I hoped-I wanted to be your soulmate all this time..."

Victor smiled widely at him. "So I wouldn't change a thing okay? Its not your fault."

They sat on the floor in silence for awhile, both coming to terms with everything that had happened in the last hour. 

“We’re both fools aren’t we?” Victor asked, smiling shakily.

“I guess so…” Yuuri mumbled, not quite able to meet his eyes.

“Let’s clean up your arm and go to sleep okay? You need to be rested to skate Yuri on Ice.” he grabbed his good arm, guiding him to a bathroom.

“I’m sorry...this is all my fault.” Yuuri mumbled, following him.

Victor stopped and turned to face him. “No it’s not. It’s both of our faults. Don’t you dare take all of the blame for this.” he said firmly, turning back and continuing to drag him. 

Yuuri said nothing else as Victor cleaned the bite and wrapped it. “It’s not too deep or anything, just enough to bleed, it should be fine.” 

Yuuri nodded, pulling his arm to his chest silently.

“Yuuri...you know I didn’t mean any of that right? That stuff I said in the common room…” he said, holding his good hand and trying to look into his eyes. 

“Y-yeah…”

“You don’t sound like it.” he frowned.

“I know, and I know you didn’t mean it, really I do, but I can’t stop my thoughts. I’m sorry.” his voice lowered to a whisper by the end.

He pulled him into a careful hug. “Yuuri, I’m so sorry. I just didn’t want you to give up your happiness for me, please forgive me.”

He opened his mouth then closed it. “I’m sorry, I can’t...I can’t think straight tonight.” 

“Fair enough.” his mouth was dry, what if he’d ruined everything with those horrible things he said. “Sleep with me? My bed’s plenty big…” he tried to keep the begging tone out of his voice.

Yuuri looked at him, silently, in the dim light of the bathroom, before nodding slightly. It’d probably help him believe that Victor didn’t really mean those things he said.

Victor lit up, happily tugging him down into his room, pushing him towards the bed and staring at the sleeping Makkachin in bafflement. How on earth had he just come back and gone to sleep in the middle of all that.

Yuuri laughed slightly, curling up at Makkachin’s back, nuzzling into his fur.

Victor pouted slightly, but joined him in bed on Makkachin’s other side.

“You’ll do wonderful tomorrow.” he said softly.

“Thank you...for believing in me.” he replied softly, still not quite able to meet his eyes.

Victor hated himself for causing this distance but he couldn’t push at it anymore tonight.

\-----

Yuuri of course, did ignore his previous advice to tone down the difficulty, giving himself a bloody nose in the process, but he could only sigh fondly at him, uanble to bring himself to dislike the part of Yuuri that couldn’t settle for less, the competitive part of Yuuri that had challenged Yurio to a dance off.  


The rabbit watched him skate from his arms, content.

The skating world was in uproar, Victor appeared with a wolf one day and nobody came forward as his soulmate, and he refused to comment on if they’d found them, then this rabbit appears? Of the rabbit he would only tell the truth, he was holding it for Yuuri.

His wonderful, light of his life, soulmate, Yuuri.

Things would be rocky for awhile, but he had hope, hope he had nearly lost in all the years since being denied the chance to find his soulmate. They could move past this mix up, he knew they could, and along the way Yuuri would win gold at the grand prix. And they would be happy, like he had always dreamed of, happy with the person of his dreams and his cute little bunny. Whatever he had to do to earn his forgiveness he would do, whatever he had to do to prove to Yuuri that he loved him fiercely.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So there we go, its the end. 
> 
> Kind of. 
> 
> I actually really want to continue this through the rest of the series, but I'm not sure if I should add more chapters or do a sequel, so for the moment it's complete. All these months of sitting on this, the resolution of the cliffhanger, made me unsatisfied with the very end, but I didn't want to delay this any further.
> 
> That's also why it's a bit short, I wanted this to feel complete as is, while I figure out how to do the rest of the series, so I ended up cutting off a bit of a wrap-up of the rest of the series.
> 
> I hope at least someone will be excited at the idea of more of this AU.
> 
> I remember a couple people saw the thing about the bite playing a part of this so, kudos to you.


End file.
